Crazy Easter Egg Party

Wow, time flies when your having fun...also when you're busy. I once again apologize for not posting in so long. I have so much to tell you, I couldn't possibly do it all in one post, so I will start with what I did this past Saturday.

For some crazy reason, I decided to host an Easter Egg hunt for the "Mom's Group" from my church, as well as some other church friends. I used the "Evite" website and did it all through the Internet. I have been a Southern Living at HOME party consultant for 4 years now, and the rule when inviting people to any function is to over invite, with the hopes that at least 50% of the people will show up. So, that's what I did when it came to my Easter Egg hunt. Much to my surprise (and delight), almost everyone responded "yes" to my invitation. Which meant, I had about 70 people, 40 of them kids, show up at my house on Saturday! No problem, we have a big yard, and I made sure I had plenty of eggs (458 to be exact).

Since I enjoy decorating & throwing parties, as well as spending quality time with my children, I decided to incorporate the two. I thought I would dye Easter eggs with my boys and use the decorated eggs as the centerpiece for my table at the party. I knew I wouldn't have time to decorate the eggs toward the end of the week, so I thought we'd decorate them on the Monday before the party. Of course, my oldest son wanted nothing to do with it, but my 7 yr. old & I decorated 24 eggs.

The day of the party arrived, I was cleaning the house, washing the outdoor lawn chairs, my husband was getting ready to mow the lawn...the party was supposed to start at 2:00 p.m. - it was 10:00 am. and the doorbell rang. Someone arrived 4 hours early! I hadn't had a shower, I had no makeup on, and I was wearing a pair of shorts with paint stains on them, with my white legs glaring! My husband talked to them, turns out they were told the party started at 10:00 a.m. They left to go run errands, vowing they would return at the proper time - crisis averted.

At 2 o'clock, the guests start to arrive, I now have had a shower, make-up & proper garments on. While some of us hid the eggs in my yard, a friend of mine agreed to take the kids to my in-law's backyard next door, and explain the Easter story using the "Resurrection Eggs". If you're not familiar with them, they have symbols in each egg that represent part of the Easter story. The kids were enthusiastically calling out the answers to each symbol and having a great time. A few days later, my friend Beth at I'm Heading Towards My Destiny called and said that her husband was so impressed with my friend Jason's "Resurrection Eggs". He didn't know about the eggs and apparently thought that Jason came up with the idea especially for my Easter Egg party! Yes, that's right, my friend Jason INVENTED Resurrection eggs! We got a good laugh at of that.

Then came the games - the egg on a spoon relay race, hoola-hoop contest, and guessing the # of jelly beans in the jar. The kids had fun.

Finally, all 458 eggs were hidden and the hunt began. I was almost trampled as the older kids took off running toward the yard. Then, as if they didn't get enough candy in the eggs, I had a Egg pinata to fully guarantee each child a visit to their dentist!

We even had a visit from the Easter Bunny (my friend Linda is kissing the Easter Bunny, who may be real, or may be her 12 yr. old son, ssshhhh, I'm not telling)

By the natural eye, all appeared to be a success...until, it happened. My husband comes to me and says, "people are eating the dyed eggs. I think we should take them off the table since they haven't been refrigerated. I'm afraid people will get sick!" (Note the day I said my son & I decorated the eggs!) I couldn't believe it! I've never heard of anyone eating dyed eggs, that I thought were clearly for decoration! I later talked to my friend Linda (that's right, the one kissing the bunny). She said she was standing at the food table and people kept asking her if it was okay to eat the boiled eggs, to which she replied, "sure".

Needless to say, I was doing a head count on Sunday morning to make sure everyone who attended the Egg hunt made it to church and wasn't at home sick.

Now I ask you, would you have seen this basket of decorated eggs and thought, centerpiece? or part of the refreshments?
It's okay, you can be honest. I've learned my lesson about edible decorations.